Hey everybody, welcome back to another great week right here in Marvel Snapshot! In this week’s spotlight, we’ll be checking out one of Marvel’s all-time great female villains in Mystique! She’s more than a match for anybody on the X-Men, so let’s take a closer look at her life right now!
Raven Darkholme is a mutant with the ability to shape-shift. Meaning she can change her form into anybody else she wishes. As you can imagine, this comes in pretty handy being a villain of her magnitude. She has mothered two important children in her lifetime in Graydon Creed and Nightcrawler. Just as important, though, was her raising Rogue for a time. Creed was the result of an affair with Sabretooth in Germany back in the day. Once Mystique realized he wasn’t a mutant, though, she abandoned him forever. Rogue, on the other hand, was her project for quite a while. Nightcrawler originally was rumored to be the offspring of Mystique and a German Baron, but this was later shown to be untrue. He is actually the son of Mystique and another mutant, Azazel.
Mystique eventually infiltrated the government and became a part of it. She used this to steal anything of value and also help train Rogue, and then she started her own team of mutants. The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants included her, Blob, Pyro, and Avalanche (sometimes Destiny as well). She kept Rogue a secret for a while, but when Mystique had trouble with Ms. Marvel, it was time to let Rogue in on the action. In a battle with the Avengers, one in which the Brotherhood almost defeated them, Rogue used her powers to try and steal Ms. Marvel’s. Afterward, she started to go insane from her mind battling Carol’s mind inside her own head. This led Rogue to leave Mystique, and join Xavier and the X-Men for help.
Mystique later suckered the government into letting her new team, Freedom Force, be used as agents. They arrested Magneto, even though it was really a ruse so Magneto could get inside the government to help stop their anti-mutant program. Then they fought against the X-Men, and later the Reavers on Muir Island. This mission proved to be disastrous, though. Not only did Stonewall get killed, but also Mystique’s lover, Destiny. This is something that haunts Mystique until this day. For a while, Mystique was forced to be a member of the government sanctioned team X-Factor.
Later, Mystique would leave X-Factor, help the Skrulls and Apocalypse, impersonate Moira Mactaggert to use the Legacy Virus, try to kill Rogue and Graydon Creed, work as a double-agent…. You name it, she has done it. Mystique will always be the epitome of a great villain in the Marvel Universe (let us not forget her performances in the X-movies as well)!
As usual, check out my recommended reading list, plus some great pics below! See you next week!
Recommended Reading
Essential Ms. Marvel vol. 1 – Tpb
Essential X-Men vol. 7 – Tpb
Sabretooth & Mystique L.S. (2006)
Mystique (2003)
Essential X-Factor vol. 1 – Tpb
X-Factor vol. 1 #’s 108-144 (1986)
Billy Dunleavy
billy@comicattack.net
Boo, you didn’t put in my favorite Mystique cover, the gorgeous cover with her and Iceman.
@Kris- lol, there were a lot to choose from! My favorite is the Mystique #1!
I always thought she was cool but Mystique really piqued my interest in that Sabretooth mini series and when she was part of X-Force.
That Mystique #1 cover is meh to me because it way too much like his Dawn stuff.
@Speech- Her appearances on the 90’s TV show were great as well. What is this “Dawn” you speak of?
There’s a title called “Dawn” and that’s the artist of the series. Basically his cover looks like his character just painted blue.
I agree with Kris, that Iceman/Mystique cover is probably my favorite of hers.